The Trump Administration said it had reached a “framework” deal with China on Monday to transfer the popular social media app TikTok to an American owner, just days before it was set to be blocked for an estimated 135 million users in the United States.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters following two days of trade talks with China in Madrid that a tentative deal had been agreed, and that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would speak on Friday to “complete” the deal.
“The framework is for a switch to a U.S.-controlled ownership,” Bessent said, adding that the agreement is “between two private parties” and that “the commercial terms have been agreed upon.”
Read More: The Grim Reality of Banning TikTok
Trump had indicated that a deal had been reached in a post on social media shortly before Bessant’s announcement.
“The big Trade Meeting in Europe between The United States of America, and China, has gone VERY WELL!” Trump posted on Truth Social. “A deal was also reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save.”
TikTok’s legal presence in the United States has been in question since a 2024 law introduced with bipartisan support and signed by former President Joe Biden introduced a ban on the app unless the company’s Chinese owner ByteDance sold to a U.S. buyer. Lawmakers cited national security and data privacy concerns. The law was upheld by the Supreme Court in January.
The law led to TikTok going dark in the United States on the evening of Jan. 18, and disappearing from U.S. app stores—only for the video app to come back online hours later after Trump announced he extended the deadline for ByteDance to sell. Trump has since extended this deadline several more times, and the most recent deadline was Sept. 17.
Trump has argued that his term-defining reciprocal tariff policy has been an important bargaining tool in working on a deal with China.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Monday that the deadline could be extended to finalize the framework deal.
Trump’s recent role as championing TikTok comes as a sharp turn from his first term in office, when Trump moved to ban the app himself.
In August, the White House launched its own TikTok account, a signal that Trump was working on completing a deal and was confident in the longevity of the app.
Since Trump extended the deadline, there has been speculation over who could buy the app from ByteDance. Among the names floated as potential buyers are Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon, Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, and influencer Mr. Beast.
“We have a lot of potential buyers,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on March 30. “I’d like to see TikTok remain alive.”
The deal comes after the U.S. and China have spent the weekend in trade talks in Spain, days after Trump took to TruthSocial to demand that U.S. allies place tariffs on China for its purchase of Russian oil.